Of course freedom of speech applies on answerMug, but a whole lot of people don't understand what that really means. It is a right guaran...

Of course freedom of speech applies on answerMug, but a whole lot of people don't understand what that really means. It is a right guaranteed to Americans in the First Amendment of the Constitution. It reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

In other words, the Constitution promises Americans that Congress won't prevent you from speaking freely, but there are still caveats to this. For example, you can't yell "fire" in a public place when there is no danger. You also can't use "fighting words" or threats. This has been upheld by the courts repeatedly. You can be charged with a crime if you call someone a name and you can face legal consequences for it. There's more information on the exceptions to the First Amendment here: https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/95-815.pdf.

With all that said, answerMug is a privately-owned site, and we're obviously not congress. We can place restrictions on the type of content we allow, and we do.

Our rules are a whole lot like the exceptions to the First Amendment. You can speak freely, but you need to be respectful of others and focus on the topic, not the people involved in the discussion. More guidelines are provided in our Terms of Service.

The best place to learn all of the rules is on our Terms of Service page, but here's a quick rundown to get you started:
Please ...

The best place to learn all of the rules is on our Terms of Service page, but here's a quick rundown to get you started:

Please respect all other muggers and their beliefs. Yes, we're a diverse bunch, but there's no reason we can't get along peacefully. It's ok to disagree- perhaps even healthy, but it's never ok to attack or belittle any individual or group.

All of the main areas are intended to be fun for everyone. This is why we don't allow cursing, discussions of a sexual nature or discussions promoting illegal drug use in the Q&A, the Main/clean chat, the blogs, the pictures or the videos. Pornography and nudity is not permitted either. Yet, we understand that muggers sometimes need to let loose and this is why we offer adultMug and Free-for-All.

Should you be found in violation of policy, the following consequences apply:

In regards to cursing in chat (drum-roll, please...): Censored cursing is permitted, provided you only use the first letter and asterisks on the rest and not to excess, excess being defined as no more than three times in a five minute period. Not following these guidelines is subject to the aforementioned penalties and is considered an intentional violation of the chat rules.

Intentional (all attacks on other users are considered intentional): 1st time- warning, 2nd time- 1 hour chat suspension, 3rd time- 24 hour chat suspension, 4th time- 48 hour site suspension. *Please note that if you are on a Main room/ Clean chat suspension, you are still permitted in the other chat rooms and on the rest of the site. However, should you continue to violate policy while already on a chat suspension, you will receive a 48 hour site suspension immediately.

Elsewhere on answerMug

We do not presently have the ability to move adult discussions to Adultia or Free-for-All. Please take this into consideration when you decide where to post your questions, as once a moderator has deleted content, it is gone forever.

Posting inappropriate content- Your post will be deleted and you will receive a note to place the content in a more appropriate area. If we believe the offense was intentional or it becomes habitual you will receive:

1st offense- Warning, 2nd offense- 48 hour site suspension, 3rd offense- suspension length will be determined by a vote of the moderators and may include permanent ban from answerMug.

Kindly keep in mind that we're all here to enjoy each others' company and hopefully learn a thing or two. The moderation team would prefer to not have to enforce any policies and we ask that you monitor yourselves so we don't have to.

It's also important to note that as answerMug grows, policies may change and moderators may have to make judgement calls and issue independent decisions as issues arise. Our moderators are volunteers who want answerMug to be a pleasant experience for everyone.